The Google Maps API is a showcase example of the Web 2.0 development paradigm, designed to be invitingly simple for developers to incorporate dynamic mapping services into Web applications. Beginning Google Maps Applications with Rails and Ajax takes a developer’s perspective, showing how to integrate mapping features into their Rails-driven Web applications. The book shows how to draw on data sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau’s TIGER/Line data and Google's own geocoding feature to build comprehensive geocoding services. The book includes guided examples demonstrating how to encourage user interaction such as pinpointing map locations, adding comments, and building community-driven maps.